Unlikely Allies
by rain17
Summary: At first AJ Quartermaine and Elizabeth Webber were nothing but unlikely allies, but while working with eachother to reach a common goal, could their circumstantial friendship end up being more? (please, R&R!!)
1. In the beginning

As she walked to Kelly's, the list of what she had to do today ran through Elizabeth's head, she had to work the morning shift, stop by the art supply store to get some new brushes, and then meet AJ for Lunch , meet AJ for lunch, the thought struck her, how odd that sounded, befriending AJ Quartermaine had come as a surprise to her, it wasn't something she had ever expected, yet it wasn't as if they were involved, not really, just working towards a common goal.  
  
"I have what you want" -- AJ shouted as she headed for the door.  
"Yeah? And what's that?" -- She asked skeptically  
"The key to my brother" -- he said simply  
"Jason? What makes you think that he's what I want?" -- she replied  
"Doesn't everyone?" --He said with a sigh --"Well, Elizabeth, I may be drunk, but I'm not blind" - he smirked.  
  
The memory of that first night played in her head, she had been at Jakes, sitting at the bar, after one of her more lengthy arguments with Courtney Matthews, normally nothing Courtney would say would have any lasting effect on Elizabeth, she usually able to just write it off, usually, however something about that fight stuck with Elizabeth, she was tired of dealing with Courtney, and tired of seeing her with Jason. She was on her second drink, or was it her third, when she felt a pair of eye's on her, she whipped around in her chair to see AJ glaring at her from a table a few feet away.  
  
"What" she snapped  
"Nothing, nothing at all" AJ raised his hands, and let out a small laugh  
"Is there something particularly amusing?" Elizabeth asked, she realized she didn't really need to be picking this fight, but she couldn't seem to stop.  
"No, it's just, imagine one of Jason perfect little girlfriends …"  
"I'm not his girl-friend" -- she cut him off  
"Right, right, of course, excuse me, ex-girlfriends"  
"and I'm not perfect" she scoffed "far from it, besides, what does Jason have to do with anything"  
"you're right, I suppose he doesn't, in fact I wish he had to do with less… it's just I've been watching you, it seems you've got some tolerance" AJ said eyeing her drink  
" 'you've been watching me' huh, seems you've got this stalking thing down pat Quartermaine"  
"Funny"  
"Not that I feel sorry for her"  
"Sorry for who" AJ asked  
"Courtney"  
"Now, what does any of this have to do with Courtney?" AJ arched a brow  
"Nothing. Everything. Every, ugh, never mind" Elizabeth got up off the stool and began to stumble, AJ got up and steadied her.  
"So much for that tolerance thing, huh?" he smiled. 


	2. The Plan

Working the morning shift it wasn't usually very busy, but today seemed to be especially slow, Elizabeth felt like she would die of boredom if she didn't get out of their soon. As she went to refill another customer's cup of coffee Lucky came pounding down the stairs and seated himself at the counter, she made her way back and gave Lucky a small smile.  
"Hey Elizabeth" he started "Wow it's dead in here huh" he commented  
"Yeah it's been this way all morning"   
"Can I get a cup of coffee?" he asked  
"Of Course" she replied and poured filled a cup for him  
"Oh, I was thinking about checking out that new club tonight, you know the one they just opened downtown where that coffee house used to be-"   
"Uh-huh" Elizabeth responded in a tired tone  
"Do you think you'd want to come?" He asked  
"Oh, Lucky, normally I would -- but I think I have plans tonight" she responded  
" 'plans' huh" Lucky smiled "What kind of plans, you got a date"  
"Not really -- Kind of -- I don't know"  
Lucky started to say something else but Elizabeth had already gone to tend to new customers, he just smiled and finished his coffee.  
(PC GRILL - Later that afternoon)  
  
Elizabeth walked in the door of the PC Grill, and eyed the room for signs of AJ, no, he wasn't there yet. She seated herself at the table and waited, about 10 minutes past and she checked her watch. 'figures he'd be late' she said under breath and let out a heavy sigh. Then she spotted him coming through the door, he made his way over to her.  
As if reading her mind, pointed a finger and said "I'm not late, you, you're early"  
AJ seated himself and pulled open his menu "Hmmm, so what sounds good?"  
"Nothing. I'm not hungry AJ" Elizabeth said staring at him.  
"Really? That's a shame, they have this really good sandwich here, let's see where is it? …." He trailed off, all the while never glancing up.  
"AJ." Elizabeth said flatly. No response, he was still searching his menu "AJ" she said again.  
"Ah, here it is." he looked up "hmm? What?"  
"Is there a reason you asked me to come here?" She questioned "Or am I just supposed to sit here and watch you eat"  
"No, no, all in good time, Elizabeth, I think I have an idea" he said  
"Which would be…." She asked  
"No, first, first my sandwich" he said -- and called a waiter to their table "Are you sure you don't want anything Liz?"  
"I'll just have a glass of water" she said flatly  
  
(20 minutes later)  
  
"Ok, so here's what I say" AJ started "If this is going to work, we need to be seen together, all over, we have to build a basis for this"  
"Alright --so what are you thinking?"  
"There's that club opening downtown, I say we go --"  
"The new club?"  
"Yeah - you heard about that right?"  
Elizabeth's mind backtracked to this morning and her conversation with Lucky "Yeah, yeah I heard about it, do you really think that it matter where we go - we could just have dinner, at Kelly's, or somewhere …"  
"Kelly's" He said "No no, how is any of this going to work if the only place we ever go is Kelly's"  
"Yeah I guess you're right"  
"You Guess, huh, that doesn't sound very enthusiastic - come on Elizabeth you're not thinking of backing out of our plan now are you?"  
"You're plan" She corrected  
"Yeah, my plan, one that you didn't seem to have a problem with a week ago"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~ (FLASHBACK) ~*~*~*~*~*~  
"Wow, be careful there Elizabeth" AJ said as he steadied her  
"I'm fine, I'll be fine - I just need air, I've got a headache all of a sudden"  
"Yeah? I'm not surprised - how many have you had tonight, he questioned, asking about her drink consumption  
"Oh, I don't, um, I don't really remember"  
"Well in my experience, when you can't remember, it means too many"  
"You would know" Elizabeth snickered  
"Yeah, yeah I would -- Here let me take you home"  
"No" she said shaking his hands off of her shoulders "I'm fine-- I'm …" She tried to finish as she started to walk, but she began to stumble again  
"Yeah, your fine" AJ scoffed "Listen, I can either walk home with you, or walk home behind you, your call"  
  
(Liz's Studio)  
"So here you are -- home sweet home -- you sleep on a couch?" AJ asked  
"Yeah -- it's a comfortable couch though, you can see for yourself" Elizabeth waved AJ over to the couch, and he took a seat next to her  
"You know something?" Elizabeth asked "You're kind of cute"  
"Yeah, well, I'm sure it helps that you're trashed" AJ laughed  
"I'm not -- I'm not 'trashed', I'm fine, but really Courtney's missing out -"  
"There's that name again" AJ said "Besides, I'm sure she'd have a different story, now that she's shacking up with 'wonder boy'"   
"Jason? He's not that great --" Elizabeth stated  
"Well, you know what they say" AJ started  
"What's that?" Elizabeth asked  
"In wine there is truth"  
"he used to be" she said under her breath  
"He used to be?" AJ questioned "What changed"  
"Courtney." She said  
"You really don't like her do you?"  
"No. I don't" Elizabeth said simply, and to that AJ gave a smirk.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~ (END FLASHBACK) ~*~*~*~*~*~ 


	3. The Club

Elizabeth walked into the club wearing a spaghetti strapped black dress that fell just above her knees, AJ following behind. Her first instinct was to scan the room for Lucky. She didn't really know how he'd react to her and AJ, and she didn't want to lie to him. No signs of Lucky. Good. AJ excused himself to the bar to get them something to drink. That's when she saw Nikolas out of the corner of her eye. It didn't really make sense, Nikolas was not even a "club person", not unless he was with someone like Gia, who she saw no signs of, or …  
  
"Lucky?! Hi." She said, a little shocked, he had some out of nowhere   
"Elizabeth. Change your mind?" Lucky asked  
"Not really" Elizabeth said, who was now scanning the room for AJ.  
" 'not really'?" Lucky repeated   
"Yeah" where was he? He had been at the bar a second ago. "I'm here with someone actually" Elizabeth said finally.  
"Oh yeah?" Lucky asked, and arched a brow. He was about to ask who, but his question got answered for him when AJ returned with the drinks  
  
They had a falling out. Lucky was not happy with the idea of Elizabeth with AJ, and he didn't like how she defended it, why would she defend him, why would she even like him. It didn't make sense.  
  
"Are you still upset because of Lucky?" AJ asked, after Lucky had stormed off  
"No, no, Lucky -- he'll be fine. I just think he was surprised that's all"  
"Good because I think now is our chance" AJ said spying Jason and Courtney coming through the door. 


	4. The next step

Jason and Courtney walked in the door, unaware of the game being played. Jason took her coat from her and laid it on the back of the chair as he sat down and she did the same.   
"Let's dance" Courtney said, it was more of a command than a suggestion.  
"Courtney." Jason said his voice cool, as always, but with a hint of annoyance, he let out a sigh "do we really have to dance?"  
"Yes, it will be fun" Courtney said, getting up and reaching her hand out so he would grab it. He did.  
"Ok, let's dance" he agreed.  
It was on the dance floor where they encountered a surprise. As Courtney was moving to the beat of the music she bumped into someone.  
"Oh -- gosh, I'm sorry…" Courtney started as she turned around, her polite sympathetic face soon changed from apologetic to irritated in less than a second "AJ." she said "What are you doing here?"  
"Just dancing, it's a free club, right. Or am I not allowed to have fun, wonder boy get all those rights?" AJ asked with a nod towards Jason. But Jason wasn't paying attention.  
"Elizabeth?" he asked  
"Jason, kind of surprised" she lied "This doesn't really seem like your kind of place"  
"I'm here with Courtney" he stated  
"Ah, yes Courtney, so I see, and how are you tonight" she asked insincerely.  
"Like you care" Courtney said, and let out a short audible breath.  
"You're right I don't. I was just trying to make conversation"  
"So why the hell are you two here together anyway, don't tell me you two are involved?" she said with a short laugh. Jason was silent.  
"And if we are?" Elizabeth said.  
"Alright, fine Elizabeth, you know now that I think about it you and AJ make perfect sense"  
"Oh we do, do we?" Elizabeth said. This was great, AJ thought, he didn't have to do any of the work, Elizabeth seemed to be taking it all on herself, he let out a satisfied smile as he watched the two women bicker.  
"Yeah you are a lot a like actually, you both complain that you never get anything, but when you do get someone, once you have it, you screw it up, and when it goes you don't understand why."  
"Was that supposed to be an insult, nice try Courtney, that barely made sense" Elizabeth scoffed "But, hey glad to know you approve, we were so worried" Liz taking a step back to stand next to AJ, so they'd get the full picture, she looked over.  
"Come on Jason let's go, we don't need this"  
Courtney stormed off, and Jason followed, silently"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
(The loft, mid discussion)  
  
"Do you care?"  
"She was my friend" Jason said, not really answering the question.  
"Yeah, was, now she's an annoying brat who's upset because you moved on"  
"It looked pretty clear, she's moved on too"  
"Can't we just be grateful"   
"To AJ?"  
"Yeah well, he's not exactly my favorite person in the world, but neither is she, they can do whatever they want" Courtney said, starting to get annoyed by the conversation.  
"He'll destroy her, he destroys everything he touches"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"She's in sufferable. God AJ, I don't know why you'd even want her back" Elizabeth ranted  
"Well I could say the same about you and Jason." AJ commented  
"You're too good for her"   
"Whoa! Bet you never thought you'd say that, huh?"   
"Thing change" Elizabeth said simply 


	5. Change of Plans

(Next Day: Kelly's)  
  
"Courtney -" AJ said with a nod "Good morning"  
"Go away AJ" Courtney said snidely   
"Just trying to be pleasant"  
"Try somewhere else" Jason intercepted  
"Oh now you wouldn't by any chance be jealous of me would you?" AJ smirked with the delight that the thought brought him  
"To be jealous I'd have to care"   
"You don't want Elizabeth anywhere near me. That's obvious, but why? 'you don't care', so why does it matter? Your jealous that I finally got the girl, the one you really wanted."  
"I'm with Courtney." Jason stated  
"Oh yeah, see, just because your with one person doesn't mean you don't want another" He pointed out. "It's noted that you said you are 'with' Courtney and not that you 'love' Courtney by the way" He added looking over towards Courtney  
"UGH, GOD, Jason, let's go, we don't need this from him." Courtney said and stormed out of Kelly's. Jason looked at AJ with much disgust.   
"You hurt her. I will not hesitate to kill you" Jason was finished now, he followed Courtney's trail and met her outside the front door.   
"HURT WHO?" AJ yelled as Jason was walking away "ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ELIZABETH OR COURTNEY? DO YOU EVEN KNOW ANYMORE?" he laughed with content, everything was falling into place.  
  
--  
  
( Q HOUSE)  
--  
  
"It couldn't have gone smoother Liz." AJ commented as he relayed the scene to Elizabeth  
"Heh, yeah" Elizabeth said, not really sounding convinced  
"No, I'm telling you, the guy wants you"  
She shook her head "Alright AJ."  
"What's wrong with you today?" He asked  
"Nothing - I just, I don't want to talk about Jason right now."  
"Why?" He questioned  
"Listen AJ, I really can't stay, I've got to get to work" Elizabeth grabbed her coat and exited the foyer.  
"Women" AJ shrugged and went into the family room.  
--  
--  
Elizabeth went to work , same old same old, she thought to herself, she wasn't even supposed to be there, Penny had called in sick, the other waitress had covered for Liz so many times she couldn't really refuse to do the same for her. But she was definitely beginning to think that decision to have that extra drink, or two, last night wasn't one of her best.  
  
"God. You and AJ?" Carly snorted, as she approached Elizabeth  
Elizabeth sighed "Carly, I'm really not in the mood"  
"That's too good" Carly continued ignoring Elizabeth  
"How do you even know ?" Elizabeth asked  
"Courtney" Carly replied "Are you really that stupid Elizabeth? No, actually, you know what? I think you two are perfect for eachother."  
"I said, I don't want to talk about it"  
"Ooh, Touchy today Elizabeth"  
"No, I just really don't feel like talking about this, not with you, so, are you going to order something or are you just wasting my time?"  
"Oh looks like you're in luck" Elizabeth continued before letting Carly respond "Courtney's here, order from her."   
Her shift was over, finally over. She took off her apron and shoved it under the counted, grabbed her purse and headed towards the coat rack, bumping Courtney on the way out.  
"What's her problem" Courtney asked as she walked towards Carly  
"Who knows -" Carly said, she certainly wasn't going to take responsibility for Elizabeth's bad mood.   
  
--  
--  
  
When Elizabeth got back to her studio all she wanted to do was sleep, she had had the intention to do some painting, but she was exhausted. Her conversation with Carly had given her a headache and she wasn't inspired to paint anything anyway. She went into the bathroom to take something for her headache  
"Who'd of thought" Elizabeth said to herself as she opened the bottle "A pain the ass could cause a pain in the head"  
She had just got herself settled when there was a knock at the door. Maybe if she ignored it they would just go away. There was another knock. This time it was accompanied by a voice  
"Elizabeth?"   
It was Jason.  
She got up off the couch, she didn't know why, but she really didn't feel like talking to him right now, she didn't really feel like talking to anyone. She opened the door, looked at Jason, and wordlessly returned to the couch leaving the door open.  
"Are you ok?" Jason asked  
"I'm fine Jason, I'm just tired. I'm sorry, What do you need"  
"I wanted to talk to you -- about, about last night"  
"That's what I was afraid of" she said under her breath  
"What?" Jason questioned  
"Nothing. I just don't know what you could really have to say, but go ahead."  
"It's not right, Elizabeth, you're going to get hurt?" Jason reasoned  
"What? Are you trying to tell me that AJ's dangerous?" Elizabeth said with a laugh  
"In his own right, yeah he can be."   
"Everything's always dangerous with you, Jason. In fact I don't think I've ever had a conversation with you where that word wasn't said."  
"I'm trying to help you Elizabeth"  
"Why? Why the hell would you want to help me Jason? Since when do you even care?  
"Fine Elizabeth. Have it your way." he said getting frustrated.  
"My way?!" Elizabeth raised her voice "You think this is what I want? You and me, unable to even have a civil conversation?"  
"I'm not the one who's yelling, Elizabeth. I was just trying to tell you…."  
"Tell me that you don't want me with AJ?" Elizabeth interrupted "That you think he's dangerous? That I'll get hurt, right? Well you know what Jason, AJ isn't the one who hurt me, that was you."  
"Why are you getting so angry?" he asked  
"Because Jason, I'm tied, I am so damn tired of this"  
"Tired of what?"  
"Of this. Of you. Of me. Of everything. You confuse me Jason"  
"I confuse you?"  
"Why are you here? Jason?"  
Silence  
"Ok, here, let me try to take a guess. You don't want me, but you don't want AJ to have me either, you care about me, about my well being, but you don't want anything to do with me, you want to come here, to clear your conscience, make yourself feel better having done your good deed, telling me what a bad, bad man AJ is, just so you can go home and sleep with Courtney and not have to worry about me? Well let me help you out Jason. You don't have to worry about me. It's a lie. It was all a lie." 


	6. New Territory

(Still at the studio)  
  
"A lie?" Jason repeated "Elizabeth. What are you talking about?"  
"Me and AJ" She clarified. "There is no me and AJ"  
  
"What are you talking about?" He asked again.  
  
"One night. Like a month or so ago. I went to Jakes and got a little drunk. AJ was there. He took me home. We ended up talking a little. About you mostly, you and Courtney. We came up, well mostly AJ, came up with, this idea, this stupid-ass idea, that we could break the two of you up."  
"Elizabeth." Jason started.  
  
"No. Please don't, don't speak, I want to finish this."  
  
"So - this plan. He thought maybe if we, me and AJ, could appear to be together, I don't know it would make you jealous or something. It sounded like a good idea at the time - but hey, a lot of things sound like a good idea when you're drunk. I just can't believe it took me this long to sober up"  
  
"You were working with AJ. All along. Just part of some plan."  
"Yeah Jason. That's what I just said. Listen. I'm done, I'm done with the whole thing, I can't do it anymore, it's really not worth it"  
  
Before Jason had a chance to speak Elizabeth quickly hurried him out of her studio. After closing the door, she sat down on her floor and cried. Really cried. For the first time in a long time. She hadn't allowed herself to cry much in the past. People had always told her she was too hard on herself, maybe they were right, she was allowed to make mistakes, she was allowed to have a little fun once in a while. She was tired of wasting her entire life pining away after someone who may never feel the same way about her again. For the first time, when she thought about this, the thought didn't scare her, it didn't upset her. It was just there, in her head, maybe she had finally accepted it. She picked herself off the floor and grabbed her coat from the couch. She sure as hell wasn't going to sit around her studio and feel sorry for herself all night.   
  
--  
(Q House)  
--  
  
The was a quick but harsh knock on the door. Reginald went to answer it, the door opened to reveal Elizabeth, slightly out of breath.   
  
"Is everything ok?" The butler asked with a strange look.   
  
"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine"  
  
"Emily's not here" he commented  
  
"I know. I need AJ. I need to talk to AJ." Elizabeth clarified.  
  
"Reginald who's at the door?" AJ asked walking up to see for himself.  
  
"AJ." Elizabeth spoke.  
  
"Elizabeth? Why are you here?" he questioned "Here for some more yelling?" he smiled.  
  
"No. Can we talk …. Alone?" she said noting the still presence of Reginald.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah. Come on" AJ replied as he began up the stairs.  
  
They entered the upstairs bedroom that AJ called his own. He waited for Elizabeth to enter and then closed the door behind her.   
  
"What did you need to talk about?" he asked her.  
  
She just looked at him. Into his eyes. At his shoulders. At his mouth. He had a nice mouth.  
  
"What?" he smirked.  
  
"Talking is highly over rated" she finally spoke, as she stepped closer and pulled him into a kiss that took him by extreme surprise.  
  
"Elizabeth?" he pulled away and looked into her eyes.  
  
"I want you." she said simply.  
  
He had this sudden urge to just take her right then and there, but he didn't want to scare her. His dilemma did not last for long, as she felt his hard on pressing up against her, she took the initiative and a few steps back, she started to unbutton her shirt, one, two, three buttons undone, soon enough her shirt hit the floor and she looked at him looking at her. They looked into each other's eyes and knew that the other one was on the same page. She pressed her body to his again and entered into a deep kiss. They made their way to the bed. AJ laid her down as he took off his own shirt and kicked off his shoes before lying on top of her. She quickly turned the tables and she was on top of him. She broke the kiss and unbuttoned his pants and pulled them off, throwing them into the newly formed pile with her shirt. Next came her pants, her bra, his boxers, swish, swish, all fell to the floor. He was on top of her again. They re-entered their kiss, deep and passionate. Then he was inside her. They were in for what would be one of the longest nights of both of their lives. 


	7. Dicoveries

The next morning Elizabeth woke up beside a still sleeping AJ. She leaned down and grabbed her clothes from the pile on the floor and quickly made her way to the bathroom attached to his bedroom. By the time she came out AJ had woken up.  
  
He rubbed at his tired eyes and then spoke "I thought you left."  
  
"No."  
  
He would have said more but there was a knock at the door.  
  
"AJ?"   
  
"Emily." Elizabeth whispered "She can't know that I'm here."  
  
"Go in there" AJ said with a nod towards the bathroom.  
  
He got out of bed and opened the door to his sister.  
  
"Good you are up." Emily spoke "Why don't you come down stairs and have breakfast with the rest of us?"  
  
"Em, I..." He tried to think of an excuse he could use to avoid a family breakfast.  
  
"Come on AJ, it's not like you're doing anything else."  
  
"Alright, Emily. I'll be down in a minute, just let me finish getting dressed."  
  
"Ok." Emily agreed and closed the door behind her.  
  
"You can come out now."  
  
"Sorry AJ."   
  
"It's not your fault, listen I think they are all in the dining room, I can probably get you out without anyone seeing you. Let's see." He suggested.  
  
They made their way down the stairs and to the front door, Elizabeth was about to leave when she heard a voice call her name. It was Emily.  
  
"Elizabeth. Hey! What are you doing here? Wait, are you coming or going?" she asked.  
  
"Coming, coming." Elizabeth assured her.  
  
"Yeah Coming" AJ said with a slight laugh which earned him a glare from Elizabeth, Emily didn't notice.  
  
"I'm glad you're here actually." Emily commented "Saves me a phone call."  
  
"Oh, yeah?" Elizabeth asked.  
  
"Yeah. I was hoping you and I could do something tonight."  
  
"Um, Yeah sure. Of course."  
  
"Do you want to stay for breakfast? I'm sure there's room." Emily suggested.  
  
"No that's ok, I'll call you later Em, we'll work out the details." She said and made a quick exit through the front door, grateful that her friend never thought to ask her what she was doing there in the first place.  
  
(Later that night)  
  
Emily and Elizabeth entered the same club that AJ and Elizabeth had been at a few weeks ago. When Elizabeth excused herself to use the restroom, Emily spotted someone she knew on the other side of the dance floor and made her way over.   
  
"Courtney. Hey."  
  
"Oh Emily, Hi! It's really great to see you. Are you here with Zander or…"  
  
"No." Emily cut in. "Zander, he's working, Ned is starting to give him some more responsibility I told him to stay."  
  
"Oh, that's great, Emily. So then, are you here alone?" Courtney asked, but she didn't have to wait for Emily to respond, she got her answer in the form of Elizabeth herself.  
  
Elizabeth saw Emily from across the room, she was talking to someone, a blonde someone, but she couldn't quite make out who it was. As she got closer she realized who's back she was seeing. She waited a moment, contemplating going back to the bathroom and waiting it out. When she realized how ridiculous her thoughts her, she let out a groan and decided to grin and bear it.  
  
"Courtney." She sighed.  
  
"Elizabeth." Courtney returned the formality snidely.  
  
"I know you two don't like eachother. But you can't even stay civil for one night" she questioned.  
  
"NO" Elizabeth and Courtney said in unison.  
  
When Elizabeth turned to look at Emily, Courtney, as a last act, grabbed her hair.  
  
"Oww" she yelped, batting her hand away "Hair pulling? I feel for Jason." She commented running her hand on her hair smoothing it out again.  
  
"I don't know why you think so much of her anyway. She used your brother." Courtney commented to Emily.  
  
"You know Courtney, Elizabeth and Jason, - she, she didn't used Jason" Emily said searching for the right words.  
  
"I'm not talking about Jason. I'm talking about AJ."  
  
"Ok now you're not even making sense. Elizabeth and AJ, they barely know eachother"  
  
"Yeah, well you've obviously been deceived, Emily. How sad is it when you can't even trust your best friend."  
  
"Shut up, Courtney" Elizabeth cut in.  
  
"What is she talking about, Elizabeth?" Emily asked.  
  
"I'm talking about, how Elizabeth pretended to date AJ to make Jason jealous." Courtney answered for her.  
  
"Elizabeth?" Emily asked again, she didn't care if Courtney gave her every single detail, direct quotes, and drew out a plan, she wasn't going to believe anything until she heard it from Elizabeth.  
  
"Emily. I. She's right. I did - AJ and I we tried to - listen, but it's not…" Elizabeth stumbled over her words "It's not like that. He's my friend, and it's over now. I mean Jason. I'm not trying. I didn't…. I'm sorry."  
  
"I can't believe you. You tried to break up Jason and Courtney. You used AJ to do it?"  
  
"Actually, we used eachother." She let out a quiet laugh. "I'm sorry that's not funny"  
  
"Why would you do that?" Emily pressed.  
  
"I'm sorry Emily, please don't be mad. I know it was wrong. I just let my jealousy get the best of me."  
  
"I don't want to talk about this right now. I don't want to talk to you."  
  
"Oh, too bad Elizabeth, Jason doesn't want anything to do with you and now neither does his sister."  
  
"You know, I really don't want to hear from you either Courtney."  
  
"Hey I'm not the one who's using your brother."  
  
"Yes you are. Just a different brother." 


	8. Discussions

"Just a minute" Elizabeth yelled in response to a knock at the door. She went to the sink to wash the paint off of her hands, and after drying them, she opened the door.  
  
"AJ."   
  
"Expecting someone else?" He asked, noticing her surprised tone.  
  
"No, not really. I just thought maybe it was Emily."  
  
"Does that mean that you know what's up with Em? She was acting really weird when she got home last night."  
  
"Yeah. She's, she's mad at me. We kind of got into a fight last night. Or well really not a fight, more of a her yelling at me type of deal." She tried to explain.  
  
"What about?"  
  
Elizabeth paused.   
  
"You." She finally spoke.  
  
"Me?" He perked up, he wasn't expecting that.  
  
"Courtney was there. I guess Jason told her everything that I told him, then she told Emily."  
  
"I see." He said.  
  
"I'm sorry, AJ."  
  
"Why does it matter?" He asked her.  
  
"What do you mean? why does it matter? I just thought you'd care, sorry."  
  
"No, I mean, why does it matter if Emily knows the truth, I mean about us, you and me. Unless you don't want her too." He paused "Is there a you and me?" He asked  
  
"Do you want there to be?" She questioned.  
  
"Maybe I do."  
  
"Maybe I do too." 


End file.
